Meaning & Origins

Mainly U.S.: from the surname derived in the Middle Ages from the Continental Germanic personal name Wendel, in origin an ethnic name for a Wend, a member of the Slavic people living in the area between the Elbe and the Oder, who were overrun by Germanic migrants in the 12th century. It has been adopted as a given name as a result of the fame of the American writer Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809–94) and his jurist son, also Oliver Wendell Holmes (1841–1935), members of a leading New England family.